H 


FROM   THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON,   D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED    BY   HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


ztyf 


THK 


I  , 


PIIILADELPI] 


tPtATEE-MEETIXG 


CONVENTION. 


'  Then thev  that  feared  the  Lord  spake  often  one  to  another;  and  the  Lord 
bearkened,  and  heard  it :  and  a  hook  of  remembrance  was  written  before  Him  for 
^hem,  that  feared  the  Lord,  and  that  thought  upon  Hi-*  name.  And  they  shall  be 
nine?  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  in  that  day  when  I  make    up  my  jewels."—  Mal. 


NEW  YORK : 

JOHN  F.  TROW,  PRINTER,  50   GREENE   STREET. 

1860. 


TO  THE 

ENTIRE   BOUSEHOLD   OF   FAITH. 

I  )f.ai;i.y  Bkloved  : — We  greet  3  ou  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  ;  fervently  wishing  you  grace,  mercy, 
and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  the 
Lord  Jesus  ( brisk 

Though  but  few  of  you  arc  known  to  ns  by 
sight,  or  by  name,  yet,  being  sure  that  happiness 
is  in  st<»rr  for  ns,  at  no  distant  day.  we  t hank 
God  upon  every  remembrance  of  your  fellow- 
ship in  the  Gospel  5  forwe  arc  all  one  in  Christ 

Constrained  by  the  love  of  Christ,  and  drawn 
by  His  Spirit,  your  brethren  and  si>tn-s.  in  many 
towns  and  cities,  have  become  the  constant  and 
hearty  supporters  of  daily  Union  Prayer-meet- 
ings. These  meetings  united  in  sending  delegates 
to  Philadelphia,  to  report  in  Convention  the 
goodness  of  God  t<>  the  several  meetings.  Also, 
to   consult    in    what    ways    we    may  enlarge   their 


4  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

usefulness,  and  how  we  may  secure  the  complete 
oneness  in  heart  and  work  of  all  those  who  love 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity. 

To  be  appointed  to  such  a  Convention,  we 
esteem  one  of  the  highest  honors  and  greatest 
privileges  of  our  lives.  We  are  deeply  solicitous 
to  make  due  acknowledgment  for  this,  to  Christ 
and  to  His  Church.  And  it  seems  to  us,  that  in 
no  way  can  we  better  do  this,  than  in  trying  to 
transmit  to  you  our  deepening  conviction,  that 
our  Father  and  His  Son  have  come  to  make  their 
abode  with  us  ;  that  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Com- 
forter, has  charged  Himself  with  our  instruction  ; 
that  He  has  commenced  to  bring  to  our  remem- 
brance the  words  of  Jesus,  and  that  He  will  surely 
guide  us  into  all  truth.  In  Philadelphia  we  have 
had  reason  to  feel,  that  our  Father  has  heard  the 
prayer  of  His  beloved  Son,  the  members  of  the 
Convention  have  been  so  evidently  of  one  heart 
and  one  mind.  He  has  glorified  his  Son,  in  mak- 
ing us  to  follow  God  as  dear  children  ;  in  prompt- 
ing all  to  speak  the  truth  in  love  ;  and  in  making 
it  their  chief  concern  to  declare  the  wonderful 
vwrks  of  God  in  their  several  cities  and  towns, 
to  the  praise  of  His  great  goodness,  and  for  encour- 
agement to  all  Christians  to  expect  yet  greater 
things. 


im:  LI  i  i:-M!.i.i  ING   G0NV1  M  tOK. 

From  all  quarters  it  was shown, that  (">d  had 
dealt  well  with  the  attendants  upon  the  Union 
Prayer-meetings,  increasing  the  joj  and  peace  of 
believers,  and  converting  rerj  man]  of  their 
friends,  acquaintance)  and  strangers. 

That  the  heart-sympathy, and  unity  in  prayer, 
which  God  has  thus  granted  us,  is  adapted  to 
turn  many  t<»  Christ,  and  to  build  them  up  on 
our  most  holy  faith,  we  need  not  argue.  If  any 
arc  not  yet  convinced,  we  beg  them  to  conn'  and 
\Yh\  should  it  not  be  soj  indeed  I  For 
meetings  are  absolutely  a  free-will  offering 
to  the  Lord*  This  concord  is  unforced.  Brethren 
and  sisters  come  together  to  praise  and  to  pray, 
not  of  constraint,  but  most  willingly.  They  are 
of  those  whose  lamps  arc  not  gone  out,  who 
watch  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  We  do  not 
mean  that  those  who  <!«»  not  and  cannot  bless  US 
with  their  presence,  do  not  equally  long  for  Hi^ 
appearing.  We  know  that  many  of  our  Lord's 
beloved  ones  cannot  ]..■  present  in  our  meetings. 
We  love  them  none  the  less  for  that,  but  promise 
them  our  fervent  prayers  in  their  behalf,  and 
earnestly  beg  them  t<»  pray  for  us ]  for  we  have 
come  t<>  know  the  worth  ofsuch  prayers. 

Of  this  we  cannot  but  Ik-  sure:  that  it  is  an 
Inestimable  gifl  of  our  blessed  Lord  t«»  I  IN  (  hurch, 


6  Tffl;  MILAOELMIA 

that  there  is  an  altar  divinely  prepared  for  the 
daily  sacrifice  ;  an  offering  not  of  the  smoke  of 
bulls  and  goats,  but  of  the  incense  of  loving, 
grateful  hearts.  That  there  is  a  place  upon  which 
the  dews  of  heaven  continually  descend  ;  a  garden 
in  which  our  Lord  daily  walks  ;  upon  which  the 
south  winds  blow,  and  the  spices  flow  out.  O 
the  fountains  of  tender  compassion  which  have 
been  opened  in  the  house  of  daily  prayer  !  the 
deep  wells  of  parental,  filial,  and  brotherly  love 
which  have  gushed  forth  among  us  !  the  fraternal 
love  springing  up  between  strangers  !  the  pleased 
surprise  in  finding  a  brother  of  our  Lord,  in  one 
who  was  known  before  only  as  a  merchant,  a 
scholar,  or  a  gentleman.  How  many  world- 
hardened  hearts  have  these  revelations  softened  ! 
How  many,  long  unused  to  weeping,  have  melted 
at  the  mention  of  a  mother's  prayers  and  tears* 
In  how  many  instances  has  the  frost  of  natural 
reserve  yielded  to  the  vernal  atmosphere  of  lov- 
ing sympathy,  and  hearts  opened  to  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  ere  they  were  well  aware  of  the 
influence  of  His  rays  upon  them. 

It  is  sometimes  asked,  Is  there  not  too  great 
publicity  in  these  meetings  ?  Is  not  delicacy 
sacrificed  in  the  exposure  of  the  most  sacred  emo- 
tions of  the  heart  ?     We  answer.  It  is  not  Christ, 


i-i:  w  i  i:-mi  i  iiv.    I  m.w  i  \  ii, .>. 

hut  the  enem)  of  Christ,  who  teaches  that  man 
may  sacrifice  uhblamed,  on  <  *ery  other  altar  hut 
tin-  altar  of  his  I  rod.  It  is  asked,  W  by  are  riot 
the  ordinary  prayer-meetings  <»t"  the  several 
churches  all-sufficient  I  What  gives  the  peculiar 
power  and  interest  t«»  these  Union  Meetings  I 
\  recent  writer  asks,  Ma)  not  tin-  secret  !><• 
found  in  the  strict  application  of  the  three-minute 
rule  I  <  )h.  in)  I  it  is  not  to  he  found  there.  It  is 
hut  t<>n  sadly  evidenl  that  tli»'  three-minute  rule 
ran  work  n<»  miracle  for  the  churches  whos€ 
members  are  infrequent  6r  uninterested  in  their 
prayer*meetings  ;  who  go  to  their  meetings  with- 
out feeling,  and  with  no  definite  intention  to  honbr 
(  h  ..I.  or  benefit  their  fellow  -men. 

There  are  characteristics,  obviously  belonging 
— and  some  of  them  peculiar — to  the  Union 
Prayer-meetings,  which  are  just  as  obviously  of 
peculiar  interest  and  power  :  and  which  well  de- 
serve to  be  most    thoughtfully   and  prayerfully 

Bidered. 

1.  The  attendants  upon  these  meetings 
Voluntarily  j  go  because  their  hearts  are  touched 
by  the  Holy  Ghost;  because  the  Comforter  has 
breathed  upon  them;  because  He  has  inspired 
the  longing  desire  to  worship  the  Lord  in  the 
beauty  of  holiness]  because  they  long  to  Bee  Hie 


8  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

King  in  His  beauty  ;  because  they  are  impelled 
by  an  irrepressible  love  for  His  cause  and  longing 
to  see  His  kingdohi  established  ;  and  because  they 
desire  this  immeasurably  more  than  they  desire 
any  denominational  aggrandizement.  The  very 
consciousness  of  being  in  a  Union  Prayer-meet- 
ing, puts  an  extinguisher  upon  lower  desires,  and 
fans  the  flame  of  spiritual  life  into  glowing  love 
to  God  and  man. 

%  The  brethren  and  sisters  throng  these  meet- 
ings because  they  are  willing  and  desirous  to  bear 
one  another's  burdens,  beyond  the  pale  of  any 
single  branch  of  the  Church.  They  covet  the 
blessedness  assured  to  those  who  mourn ;  and 
they  go  in  the  very  spirit  of  Christ,  to  weep  with 
those  who  weep>  and  to  whisper  the  invitation  of 
the  tenderest  of  comforters j  "  Come  unto  Me5 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  They  know  that  to 
these  meetings  the  heavy-laden  will  come,  and 
they  desire  to  meet  and  comfort  them. 

3.  The  attendants  upon  these  meetings  have 
not  a  doubt  that  the  daily  Union  service  is  a 
timely  gift  of  God3  to  meet  a  rising  want,  for 
which  no  other  provision  exists.  The  time  to 
"  Stand  up  for  Jesus,"  has  fully  come ;  and 
those  who  know  the  history  of  these  meetings 
and    of  concurrent    events,     cannot    doubt    that 


n;  \yi  i:-mi  i  1 1.\«.    I  0NV1  N  i  [ON.  9 

God's    <>wii    hand    Wrote    this    watchword    in    OUT 

hearts. 

1.  The  people  go  to  these  meetings,  because 
that  in  them,  more  vividly  than  elsewhere, 
they  have  realized  the  ceaseless  intercession  of 
our  great*  Mediator.  They  go  therefore  with 
great  expectations,  and  arc  no1  disappointed. 

Finally,  they  go,  because  they  believe  that 
the  long-promised  day  has  come,  when  God  has 
begun  to  pour  out  His  Spirit  upon  all  flesh  ;  and 
they  would  fain  be  among  the  foremost  to  hail 
His  coming  with  grateful  and  adoring  praise. 
They  find  in  our  circumstances,  a  close  r 
blance  to  the  circumstances  of  the  first  disciples  : 
-  came  unto  His  own  and  His  own  received 
him  not."  They  go  to  the  Union  Prayer-meeting 
to  make  common  cause  in  praying  God  to  open 
our  eyes,  lest  we  should  he  more  blind,  and  more 
guilty  than  Christ's  " own."  Not  to  recognize 
the  Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Promise  of 
the  Father,  seems  to  he  more  culpable  than  not 
to  have  recognized  the  Son  of  God.  For  though 
the  first  disciple-  were  certainly  "slow  of  heart 
to  believe  all  that  the  prophets  had  spoken,"  their 
hearts  had  not  been  illuminated  and  tired  by  the 
combined  rays  "t'  Old  and  New  Testament  his- 
tory.    And  they  had  known  none  in  all  the  lone 


10  THE    PHILADELPHIA 

catalogue,  extending  from  their  day  to  ours,  of 
noble  souls  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
divinely  commissioned,  in  their  own  persons,  to 
continue  the  history  commenced  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Hebrews. 

Persuaded  that  the  daily  Union  Prayer-meet- 
ing, so  small  in  its  beginning,  seemingly  so  un- 
important, like  "  the  stone  cut  without  hands, 
which  became  a  great  mountain  and  filled  the 
earth,*'  is  a  chosen  instrument  in  the  hands  of 
God,  for  the  destruction  of  unbelief,  and  of  for- 
malism, and  for  fostering  courageous  endeavors 
to  save  souls,  we  fervently  commend  it  to  the 
whole  household  of  faith. 

Your  Brethren  in  Convention. 


Sansom  St.  Church, 
Philadelphia,  March  8, 1860. 


The  address  which  you  have  just  read,  breth- 
ren, comes  to  you  as  a  loving  expression  of  views 
and  feelings,  developed  by  the  fraternal  conference 
of  a  large  number  of  Christians  of  every  name 
constituting  the  Second  National  Convention  of 
Union  Prayer-meetings,  which  held  its  sessions 


PkWYi  i;-mi  i  1 1\<.    (  0N\  i  n  i  ION.  I  I 

for  three  consecutive  days  in  the  Sansom  St. 
Baptist  Church,  Philadelphia, 'commencing  on  the 
6th  daj  of  March  last 

This  Convention,  as  you  are  perhaps  alreadj 
apprised,  was  the  result  of  a  previous  one  held  in 
the  Hall  oftheCooper  Institute,  Ne^  York,  on 
the  occasion  <>f  the  Anniversary  of  the  Fulton 
si.  Meeting  last  fall,  from  the  23d  to  the  25th  of 
September, 

At  thai    First  Convention  of   Union  Prayer- 

gs  we  all   felt,  brethren,  that   the  Master 

had  called  us  together,  that  He  had  something  for 

us  to  do,  and  that   He  would  guide  us  into  doing 

it  according  to  His  own  perfect  purpose, 

The  Convention  was  Bomewhat  hastily  sum- 
moned, and  it  might  almost  have  been  said  of  us 
when  we  met  that  "  the  more  part  knew  not 
wherefore  they  were  come  together;"  but  the 
Great  Master  of  Assemblies  knew. 

It  was  Boon  and  plainly  seen  that  there  was  a 
remarkable  unanimity  of  feeling  and  desire  among 
present,  and  a  pressure  for  something  to  be 
done  bo  decided  and  so  forcible,  that  to  resist  it 
would  have  been  acting  against  the  Lord's  plain 
purpose.  A  Lr,,<»d  deal  of  earnest  agitation  of  the 
question  k*  What  shall  we  do?"  resulted  in  the 


12  THE    PHILADELPHIA 

following  Resolution,  unanimously  adopted  by  the 
Convention,  on  the  eve  of  its  adjournment. 

'-Resolved — That  a  committee  of  nineteen  be  appointed 
to  enquire  what  systematic  action  can  be  adopted  by  the 
Daily  Union  Prayer-meetings  in  Convention,  to  promote 
their  extension  in  every  city  and  village,  and  to  carry  out 
in  every  way,  and  to  every  extent  approved  of  by  the 
Great  Head  of  the  Church,  that  principle  of  Union,  and 
that  consecration  of  secular  hours,  places  and  forces, 
by  which  they  are  characterized  ;  contemplating,  among 
others,  such  methods  as  those  of  field,  tent,  and  public-hall 
preaching,  lay  evangelism,  missionary  deputations  to  un- 
awakened  or  destitute  places,  and  the  consecration  of  the 
Press  to  the  office  of  preaching  the  Gospel  daily  to  every 
creature  ;  the  Committee  to  report  at  the  adjourned  meet- 
ing in  Philadelphia." 

This  Resolution,  so  significant  and  so  compre- 
hensive, was  hailed  with  deeply  satisfied  feeling, 
and  the  First  Convention  separated  with  many 
fervent  hopes  and  prayers,  and  with  a  general 
conviction  that  the  Lord  would  meet  His  people, 
when  reassembled,  with  a  yet  greater  blessing. 

The  Second  Convention  wTas  called  for  the 
6th  day  of  March,  1860. 

On  that  day  there  assembled  a  number  of 
brethren  so  considerable,  and  of  delegates  from 
Union  Prayer-meetings  representing  so  great  an 
extent  of  territory,  as  quite  to  take  by  surprise 


i'KAVi;i:-Mi  l  n.\<;    CONTENTION.  L3 

even  the  most  hopefbL  Not  less  than  eighteen 
States  were  represented  in  person  and  by  report, 
ranging  from  Maine  to  California,  and  from  Iowa 
to  Georgia,  and  also,  by  one  report,  Canada. 

The  verj  first  and  common  consciousness 
among  us  as  there  assembled  was  that  the  Lord 
was  with  us,  This  was  made  manifest  nol  only 
by  a  most  remarkable  and  most  delightful  unity 
of  sentiment  :  hut  by  such  a  knitting  together  of 
all  hearts  in  supreme  Christian  love,  as  has  been 
too  rarely  experienced  in  our  own  day.  To 
many  present,  it  was  almost  a  new  revelation  of 
the  possibilities  latent  in  the  original  Divine 
Constitution  <>t'  the  Church.  At  moments  of 
tenderer  feeling  many  eyes  gushed  with  strange 
tears,  and  many  strong  men  were  bowed.  Mol- 
ten together  in  unspeakable  love,  we  were  all  one 
in  Christ  Jesus,  and  realized  the  most  wonderful 
foretaste  of  the  fellowship  of  the  saints  in  light,  till 
at  last  it  seemed  almost  impossible  for  the 
brethren  to  break  away  and  separate  to  their 
ral  homes  and  their  several  communions. 

It  was  hard  to  give  up  the  unity  and  go  back 
to  the  diversity. 

The  following  Resolution  was  intended  to  give 
expression  to  the  lively  and  humble  gratitude, 
which  overflowed  all  hearts, 
2 


14:  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

"Resolved — That  this  Convention,  feeling  how  great  is 
His  favor  in  His  presence  with  them  during  their  sessions, 
devoutly  acknowledge  their  everlasting  obligation,  and 
render  thanks  to  our  Almighty  God  and  Saviour,  the  Great 
Head  of  the  Church  ;  and  especially  for  the  rich  gift  of 
His  grace  through  the  dispensation  of  His  Spirit  in  the 
Union  Prayer-meetings,  whereby  He  has  brought  into  a 
loving  and  heavenly  oneness  and  consecration  to  His 
work  so  many  hearts ;  while  we  recognize  it  as  an  in- 
estimable blessing  and  as  a  pledge  and  means  of  the  final 
triumph  and  joy  of  our  blessed  Lord  over  the  great  ad- 
versary of  souls,  and  the  redemption  of  a  lost  world  to 
Himself,  to  whom  be  glory  forever  and  ever." 

The  view  thus  expressed,  touching  the  char- 
acter, power  and  function  of  the  Union  Prayer- 
meeting,  was  participated  in  by  every  one.  All 
the  intelligence,  all  the  opinions  contributed  by 
delegates,  and  by  reports  from  widely-distant  quar- 
ters, only  went  to  confirm  this  view  and  to  give 
it  redoubled  force.  The  conviction  thus  estab- 
lished led  directly  and  naturally  to  a  desire  for 
united  and  somewhat  systematized  action. 

The  method  preferred  for  the  attainment  of 
this  end,  and  at  the  same  time  for  the  preserva- 
tion, unimpaired,  of  the  precious  element  of  fra- 
ternal freedom  and  spiritual  spontaneity  hitherto 
so  remarkably,  and  by  all  present  accepted  as 
Divinely,    characteristic   pf    the   Union   Prayer- 


PRAT]  R-M3  i  I  [NG    0ON1  ENTTON.  L5 

meetings,  will  appear  from  the  following  Resolu- 
tions : 

/  r,/ — t},;1|  | ;  :l  Contention  of  Brethren  in  tei 
in  the  Daily  Union  Prayer-meeting,  we  unite,  and  invite 
all  Christiana  to  unite  with  us — 

'—  In  perpetual  and  fervent  thanksgiving  to  God 
our  Father  for  the  late  inestimable  Lrii't,  through  His 
Holy  Spirit,  to  the  Church,  of  a  common,  a  united,  and  a 
daily  sacrifice  of  prayer  and  praise,  wherein  Be  has  con- 
descended to  manifest  Bia  grace  and  glory  unto  us  more 
abundantly  than  in  ages  past  ;  and  in  particular  for  that 
ikable  love,  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  which 

He  has  shed  down  in    an    extraordinary   manner   upon  ilia 
united   people  here  and  now  assembled. 

Second — In  constant  prayers  for  the  permanence  and 
prosperity  of  all  Daily  Union  Prayer-meetings,  especially 
those  held  in  business  hours  and  places,  and  for  the  ex- 
tension of  such  meetings  in  due  time  to  every  place  where 
it  is  practicable  for  two  or  three  to  gather  together  in  the 
name  of  .U.srs. 

Third — In  concerted  and  systematic  efforts  as  well  as 
prayers,  for  the  institution  of  Daily  Union  Prayer-meetings 
in  every  place  to  which  our  personal  and  united  influence 
may  reach  ;  for  the  weakening  to  final  extinction  of  that 
divisive  and  schismatic  tendency  so  needlessly  connected 
with  the  unessential  and  often  unimportant  peculiarities 
of  the  several  branches  of  the  Church  ;  and  for  the  dil 
possible  appropriation  of  every  secular  time,  place,  relation, 
instrument,  and  energy,  which  Christiana  may  and  do  law- 
fully employ  at  all,  to  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  and 
the  active  support  of  Christ's  supreme  kingdom  on  earth. 


16  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

Fourth — In  maintaining  a  National  Reunion  of  Daily 
Prayer-meetings,  annually  or  oftener,  after  the  simple  and 
voluntary  method  of  the  local  meetings,  for  the  purposes 
of  fraternal  communion,  prayer,  counsel,  encouragement, 
and  co-operation. 

Resolved — That  for  these  objects  the  following  means 
are  adopted  and  recommended  : — 

First — That  every  Union  Prayer-meeting  be  represented 
by  a  convenient  number  of  brethren  approved  by  common 
consent,  without  formal  election,  who  may  constitute  in 
the  aggregate  a  u  General  Committee  of  correspondence 
for  the  Union  Prayer-meetings  ;  "  collecting  from  its  local 
constituencies  stated  and  systematic  information  interest- 
ing to  the  brotherhood,  and  through  them  redistributing 
the  same  for  the  benefit  of  all  in  correspondence  with 
them  ;  and  through  the  same  medium  promoting  kindred 
evangelic  enterprises  approved  and  recognized  under  the 
common  generic  principle  of  Christian  aggression  in  the 
secular  sphere. 

Second — That  it  be  considered  proper  for  such  com- 
mittee to  enquire,  consult,  and  issue  recommendations 
upon  any  subject  of  general  concern  to  the  Union  Prayer- 
meetings  ;  to  call,  and  make  arrangements  for,  general 
conventions  at  such  times  and  places  as  may  be  found  ex- 
pedient ;  and  to  report  to  such  conventions  the  results  of 
investigation,  correspondence,  and  consultation  on  all  sub- 
jects within  their  purview,  having  regard  not  to  our  own 
country  alone,  but  to  the  same  interests  in  every  part  of 
the  world. 

Third — That  of  brethren  now  present  from  the  several 
Union  Prayer-meetings,  or  of  others  known  to  them  as 
active  and  approved  members  of  such  meetings,  convenient 


Vi:avii:-mi  t.iiv.  [0*.  1  < 

number  d  by  mutual  consent,  t«>  constitute  the 

proposed  local  and  general  committees  <>f  correspondence 
— subject  to  the  future  approbation  of  the  Prayer-meetings 
— ami  that  the  Secretaries  obtain  and  report  the  names  of 
such  commits  as  practicable.    The  Commit 

Correspondence,   when   organised,   are    desired    tu    find 
the  attention  ot'  all   Onion  Prayer-meetings 
to  the  pi. m  of  correspondence  proposed;  securing 

sible  the  representation  and  active  co-operation  of 
all,  ami  availing  themselves  of  the  Bystem  to  promote  by 
every   i  means  the   ends  which   command   our 

m  consent,  as  Daily  Union  P 
ved — That  all  th<  mbraced  in  the  reports 

and  resolutions  adopted  by  the  convention,  are  commended 
to  the  prompt  and  energetic  action  of  the  Committee  of 
Correspondence  to  he  promoted  by  every  expedient  mode 
which  may  be  found  open  to  them  ;  and  that  the  same 
committee  ai  i  their  influence  by  cor- 

respondence, memorial,  or  otherwise,  to  existing  religious 
and   ecclesiastical   bodies,  the   clergy,  and  the   religious 

:i  behalf  of  the  great  cardinal  objects  of  their  ap- 
pointment ;  and  also  to  cause  to  be  prepared  and  cir- 
culated as  extensively  as  may  be,  an  address  to  Christians 
ion,  in  behalf  of  the  same 
great  objects,  together  with  as  full  a  report  of  the 
3  of  this  convention  as  may  conveniently  and  ju- 
diciously be  published  ,  and  a  circular  letter  to  the  * 
Union  Prayer-meetings,  upon  the  means  for  reviving  and 
perpetuating  the  interest  and  fruitfulness  of  such  meetings, 
especially  with  reference  to  those  which  have  declined  or 
been  entirely  abandoned, 


o* 


18  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

The  kind  and  degree  of  sentiment  prevailing 
among  the  brethren  present  in  the  Convention 
can  better  be  estimated  from  these  comprehensive 
and  pointed  Resolves  than  from  any  amount  of 
emphasis  in  description. 

The  most  earnest  and  lively  feeling  showed 
itself  also  throughout  the  discussion  of  that,  which 
formed  the  other  great  topic  of  the  Convention, 
Christian  Unity  and  Union.  More  time,  in  fact, 
more  thought,  more  power  of  illustration  and  ex- 
pression were  spent  upon  this  than  upon  any, 
probably  more  than  upon  all  other  subjects. 
The  entire  convocation  of  brethren  seemed  to 
throw  itself  with  the  utmost  ardor  of  earnestness 
upon  this  great  theme.  Rarely  have  fewer  words 
been  wasted,  rarely  has  Jess  been  said  for  effect, 
rarely  have  arguments  been  more  to  the  point,  or 
more  directly  the  expression  of  thorough  convic- 
tion and  profound  feeling,  than  during  the  whole 
of  this  thrilling  discussion.  A  hushed  and  most 
meaning  silence  reigned,  and,  throughout  the  great 
audience,  each  eye  and  each  heart  seemed  intent 
while  one  brother  after  another  arose  and  gave 
expression,  as  best  he  might,  before  God  and  his 
fellows,  to  sentiments,  to  desires,  to  hopes,  to 
anticipations,  or  to  exhortations,  to  cautions,  to 
warnings,  every  one  of  which  spoke  unmistak- 


!  i.k-mi-.i..  19 

My  jui  earnest,  and  a  kindled  soul.  Seldom, 
we  believe,  has  there  been  a  discussion,  amidst 
-><>  profound  and  bo  acute  feeling,  ye1  conducted, 
as  that  was.  without  a  jarring,  or  an  nnkin<l  word. 
from  beginning  to  endi     I  ten  ration 

ofa  Mind  partiality,  brethren,  for  in  the  agitation 
of  this  topic,  aa,  Indeed,  equally  throughout  the 
sessions  of  the  Convention,  one  of  the  most  novel, 
striking,  and  precious  features  was  the  substitution 
of  the  fraternal  for  the  parliamentary  in  all  the 
deliberations  and  rulings  of  the  Assembly*  Not 
once  did  occasion  arise  for  the  application  of  par- 
liamentary stringency  ;  but  brother  <lca.lt  as  with 
brother,  and  tenderness,  courtesy,  gentle  con- 
sideration manifested  on  every  hand,  recalled 
those  Apostolic  days,  too  brief,  alas!   when  the 

entire  Church  was  ind I  on*  in  Love. 

The  following  Resolutions  LrH«'  expression  to 
the  convictions  of  the  Church,  as  then  in  Conven- 
tion represented,  on  the  grand  topic  of  Christian 
Union. 

1.  Resolved — That  the  thorough  oneness,  in  spirit,  in 
aetion,  of  Bis  Church,  is  clearly  according  to  the  mind  of 
Christ 

2.  Resolved — That  it  is  the  duty  of  this  Convention  to 
move,  in  every  practicable  and  wise  direction,  toward-  the 
increase  of  this  oneness  among  Christians. 

3.  Resolved — That  the  Union  Prayer-meetings  through- 


20  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

out  the  country,  be  recommended  henceforth  to  keep  the 
subject  of  Christian  Union  constantly  and  prominently  in 
view  as  a  subject  of  special  supplication  to  the  Divine 
Head  of  the  Church  ;  and  that  to  secure  this  end  they  in- 
troduce a  standing  reminder  of  it  into  the  rules  and  regU' 
lations  by  them  generally  addressed  to  their  leaders,  and 
in  any  other  way,  which  may  promise  to  be  most  effectual. 

4.  Resolved — That  such  other  means  be  made  use  of 
as  shall  tend  to  present  and  keep  the  subject,  to  the  great- 
est attainable  degree,  before  the  entire  Church  as  a  sub- 
ject of  importunate  prayer,  both  public  and  private. 

Resolved — That  it  be  recommended  to  all  Union  Prayer- 
meetings  to  make  the  union  of  God's  people  the  matter  of 
special  prayer  in  their  regular  meetings  on  the  second 
Monday  in  each  month. 

Resolved — That  the  assimilative  power  of  a  daily  and 
full  communion  of  the  whole  Church  in  prayer  and  the 
other  ordinances  of  the  Gospel,  as  it  has  not  been  tested, 
so  has  not  been  comprehended,  since  the  Apostolic  age  ; 
that  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  tested,  in  the  brief  space  of 
three  years  past,  it  has  already  wrought  well-nigh  mi- 
raculous results  in  uniting  the  minds  as  well  as  hearts  of 
the  sundered  branches  of  the  Church  ;  affording  hopeful 
evidence  that  the  contradictory  forms  engendered  by  ages 
of  theologic  war,  may  yet  be  supplanted,  in  an  age  of 
spiritual  peace,  by  the  lovely  symmetry  of  form  and  move- 
ment which  shall  belong  to  the  Bride  of  Christ  when  she 
is  "  adorned  for  her  Husband:  n  that,  while  deploring  the 
differences  which  still  separate  us  in  part,  we  will  take 
up  in  hope  the  exhortation  of  an  Apostle ;  and  u  whereto 
we  have  already  attained,"  we  will  diligently  study  to 
"  walk  by  the  same  rule/'  and  to  "  mind  the  same  thing," 


PRATZB-MEETING    00H1  ENTIOV.  21 

— "endeavoring  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace11 — and  praying  and  believing,  that  in 
whatever  we  still  remain  unhappily  "otherwise  minded," 

M  (.od  ahall  reveal  even  this  onto 

The  following  Preamble  and  Resolutions,  of- 
fered by  the  venerable  Dr.  Vaughan  erf  Philadel- 
phia, bear  upon  the  same  subject. 

11  Wkereatj  The  first  Monday  in  October,  annually,  has 

commended,  throughout  our  land,  by  a  large  num- 

gymen    of  various  leading  denominations   in 

Philadelphia,  as  a  day  of  Bpecial  prayer  for  the  unity  of 

the  Spirit ;  and 

"  Wherea$i  That  day  was  observed  last  October  by  multi- 
tude-, in  this  city,  who  testified  with  one  voice  to  the 
preciousness  of  the  season  ;  and  especially  to  the  gracious 
experience  of  Divine  favor  resting  upon  two  meetings 
held  that  day,  attended  by  more  than  200  ministers,  and 
several  thousand  persons  of  various  Christian  names;   and 

ik  Whereasi  A  more  general  observance  of  the  day  will 
doubtless  result  in  larger  blessings  elsewhere;  therefore 

m  /;.  \olvtd — That  this  Convention,  regarding  the  work  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  in  uniting  Christians  in  Christ  and  in  each 
other  as  the  hopeful  basis  of  all  proper  external  Christian 
Union,  most  cordially  recommend  the  first  Monday  of  Oc- 
tober, annually,  for  special  prayer  for  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit;' 

A  variety  of  other  Resolutions  were  adopted, 
bearing  upon  th<  -  ;LrLri'ste<l  by  the  Resolu- 

tion of  the  first  Convention.     Of  these  the  follow- 


22  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

ing  are  given  as  necessary  to  a  full  understanding 
of  the  spirit  and  work  of  the  Convention. 

"  Resolved — That  this  Convention  earnestly  recommend 
the  several  Union  Prayer-meetings  of  every  locality  in  the 
United  States  to  send  as  large  delegations  as  possible  to 
the  Third  National  Convention  of  Union  Prayer-meetings, 
to  be  held  in  the  city  of  Washington  in  December  next ; 
firmly  believing  such  a  course  to  be  for  the  spiritual  re- 
freshment of  each  meeting  represented,  as  well  as  for  the 
advancement  of  Christian  unity  ; — 

"  Whereas,  In  response  to  a  special  call  from  the  brethren 
of  the  Lodiana  Mission  in  India,  the  second  week  of  Jan- 
uary last  was  generally  observed  throughout  the  world  as 
a  season  of  special  prayer  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  upon  all  lands  ;   therefore 

"  Resolved — That  this  Convention  recommends  to  Chris 
tians  in  all  places  the  observance  of  the  second  week  in 
January,  1861,  as  a  season  of  prayer  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world." 

In  connection  with  one  of  the  Reports  read 
before  the  Convention  the  following  was  adopted : 

"Resolved — That  a  sphere  of  no  secondary  importance 
and  influence  is  open  to  Christian  women  in  the  Daily 
Union  Prayer-meeting  ;  and  that  they  should  be  encouraged 
and  assisted,  where  practicable,  to  maintain  similar  meet- 
ings of  a  conversational  and  devotional  character,  composed 
exclusively  of  their  own  sex,  where  their  religious  feelings 
may  be  fully  expressed,  and  where  timid  inquirers  may  be 
sought  out  and  directed." 


PRAT]  i:-mi.i  ii.\(.    CONVENTION.  38 

In  aooordanoe  with  a  vote  of  the  Convention 
the  number  of  the  original  ( lommittee  of  nineteen 
was  raised  to  thirty,  as  follows  \ 

Rev  Dr.  Sampson,  Washington,  D.O.,  Bapti 
Rev.  Dr.  Kbnnabd,  Philadelphia,  M 

Rev. J.  Q.  Adams,  New  York,  u 

]  i  ow,  Boston,  M  " 

J.  B,  Watkin>.  Esq.  Richmond,  Va.,       M 
Rev,  Dr.  Grant,  1  Jo-ton,  Mass.,  Congregational. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Chioksbino,  D.D.,  Portland,  Me*,  Con- 
gregational. 
J.  W.  K'l.MHAi.i.  Esq.,  Boston,  ICass.,  OongregationaL 
J.  C.  Laxfhieb,  Esq.,  New  York,  Dutch  Reformed. 
Rev.  LG.  Bingham,  "  " 

Hon.  Bellamy  Btobsb,  Cincinnati,  0.,  Episcopal. 
F.  V.  Rushton,  Esq.,  New  York,  u 

Rev.  II.  R.  Boott,  Hampstead,  Va.,  " 

Rev.  Jambs  I'hatt.  I). I)..  Chicago,  111.,        " 
E.  G.  Tilestox,  Esq.,  Boston,  Ma—.,  M 

J.  II.  TATLOB,  Esq.,  Portland,  Conn.  u 

Rev,  A.  M.  Morrison,  Yonkers,  X.  Y.,       " 
Rev.  Alfred  Cookmax,  Philadelphia,  Methodist. 
Rev.  J.  S.  DlEHL,  San  Francisco,  " 

David  Snow,  Esq.,  Boston,  M  u 

Rev.  Dr.  MoCuhtook,  New  York,  " 

AVm.  E.  Podge,  Esq.,  New  York,  N.  S.  Presbyterian. 
W.  0,  Coxa xt.  Esq.,  New  York,  " 

Rev.  Geo.  Dtffield,  Jr.,  Philadelphia,       " 
P.  B.  Simons,  Esq.,  Philadelphia,  u 


24:  THE   PHILADELPHIA 

Rev.  Dr.  Lelaxd,  Columbia,  S.  0.,  0.  S.  Presbyte- 
rian. 

Rev.  Dr.  Leybukx,  Philadelphia,  " 

J.  C.  Bliss,  Esq.,  Alleghany  City,  Pa.,    u 
Prof.  O.  M.  Mitchell,  Cincinnati,  0.,       " 
Geo.  H.  Stuaet,  Esq.,  Philadelphia,  Reformed  Pres- 
byterian. 

The  following  Reports  and  Papers  were  read 
and  adopted  by  the  Convention,  viz.  : 

A  Report  on  the  Organization  of  the  Union 
Prayer-meetings  ; 

A  Report  on  Christian  Union ; 

A  Report  on  Union  Missions,  field,  street,  and 
tent  preaching ; 

A  Report  on  the  Consecration  of  the  Daily 
Newspaper  Press  to  the  cause  and  kingdom  of 
Christ ; 

A  Report  on  the  influence  and  duty  of  women 
in  relation  to  the  Union  Prayer-meeting ; 

A  Summary  of  the  Reports  of  Delegates  to 
the  Second  National  Convention  of  Union  Prayer- 
meetings. 

An  elaborate  disquisition  was  also  presented 
and  read  on  the  Origin,  Mode,  and  Perpetuity  of 
a  Daily  Service  of  Communion  with  God  and 
with  each  other  under  the  Mosaic  and  Christian 
Dispensations,  written  for  the  Convention  by  Rev. 
Stephen  Porter,  D.D,,  Geneva,  N.  Y. 


i'i:.\vi:i;-.Mi:r.n.\(;   <  ONYENTIOV.  20 

And  now,  brethren  beloved  in  the  Lord, 
praying  always  thai  our  hearts  may  be  knit  to- 
gether in  love,  an  I  unto  all  riches  of  the  full  as- 
surance of  understanding,  we  commend  you  to 
God,  and  to  the  word  of  His  grace,  which  is  able 
to  l>uil»l  you  up  and  to  give  you  an  inheritance 
among  all  them  that  are  sanctified. 

( hi  behalf  of  the  Convention, 
Your  Brethbxn  of  the  Committer  of  Thirty. 


APPEXDIX. 


[The  first  three  of  the  Reports  above  enume- 
rated are  hereto  annexed,  as  of  sufficient  import- 
ance and  interest  to  warrant  insertion.] 


REPORT   ON  THE   ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  UNION 

PRAYER-MEETINGS. 

On  the  first  point  of  practical  inquiry  referred  to  this 
committee,  viz.  :  "  What  systematic  action  can  be  adopted 
by  the  Daily  Union  Prayer-meetings  in  Convention,  to  pro- 
mote their  own  extension  in  every  city  and  village  ?  " — the 
following  views  are  submitted  : 

The  Daily  Union  Prayer-meeting  is  not  a  "  measure  " 
or  expedient  of  our  contriving,  and  dependent  on  our  ac- 
tion for  its  continuance.  Not  from  us  it  "  borrows  leave 
to  be."  "We  call  it  a  permanent  institution,  not  because 
we  have  so  resolved  and  established  it,  but  rather  because 
we  did  not  establish  or  intend  it,  but  find  it  established  for 
us,  with  every  appearance  of  permanence,  by  Divine  power. 


APPENDIX.  I'. 

it  Is,  moreover,  to  Institution  which  human  wisdom  had 
ire  in  devising,  and  therefore  cannot  amend.     U 

grew  up,  as  it  were,  in  ;i  night,  with  ■  mysterious  force, 

from  ■  little  germ  thai  fell  Into  the  world  unnoticed,  none 

knew  whence,  and  none  knew  what     No  presentiment  of 

g  worth  and  i><>  i  the  mind  of  any 

-  iw  it  planted.     No  hnman  forecast  joined  it-  ete- 

ta  form,  or  intended  it  Id  the 

mind  of  the  hnman  agenl  i:  mple  thought  that 

Christians  needed,  and  some  might  perhaps  enjoy, 
minutes  pause  for  prayer,  amidst  the  business  of  the  day. 
Merely  such  ■  thought,  In  appearance,  as  ■  hundred  others 
that  c<  ■  mind,  and  are  dismissed  as  impi 

hie,  or  tried  and  foun  I  e  '.     Not  by  any  moans  one  of  the 

or  hopeful  of  such  pi<>  ins,  we 

humanly.  Advisers,  we  know,  deemed  it  a  fan- 
ciful notion,  rather  romantic  than  shrewd ;  well-meant, 
doubtless,  but  quixotically  In  collision  with  Btubborn  facts, 
if  not  with  the  very  nature  of  things.  Nor  can  we  blame 
bably  not  one  in  a  hundred  of  those  now  pres- 
ent, but  would  at  that  time  have  lifted  his  eyes  in  amaze- 
ment   upon   the  individual  who  should  have  seriously  pro- 

8  ispend  business  regularly  at  high  noon, 
and  attend  a  prayer-meeting.  The  plan  was  really  weak 
in  it-elf,  but  there  ret  alxnit  it.     God  had  chosen 

It — emphatically  one  of  the  weak  things  of  the  world  and 
of  the  Church — to  confound  the  things  that  wen1  mighty. 
All  alike  stood  amazed  at  it>  instant  and  miraculous  devel- 
opment Awed  by  the  evidence  of  a  divine  impulsi 
confounded  by  Its  transcendent  power,  men  for  once  laid 
aside  their  wisdom  and  let  it  alone.  A<  it  evolved  its  own 
force,  BO  it  evolved  its   own   method,  and  both  were 


28  APPENDIX. 

fessed  divine,  and  like  to  nothing  man  had  ever  made. 
Perhaps  nothing  so  unpolluted  by  human  agency,  and  so 
fresh  from  Heaven,  has  come  into  the  world  since  the 
Christian  Church  was  born  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  day 
of  Pentecost. 

In  approaching  the  main  subject  of  our  counsels,  there- 
fore, we  are  ready  to  imagine  ourselves  arrested  by  the 
voice  that  warned  the  Friend  of  God  when  drawing  near 
the  burning  bush  :  "  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for 
the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  We  are 
reminded  of  the  altar  of  unhewn  stones,  whereof  it  was 
said  to  Moses,  "  If  thou  lift  up  thy  tool  upon  it,  thou  hast 
polluted  it."  While  we  are  counselling  together  to  bring 
home,  to  all  our  Zions,  this  Ark  of  God,  wherein  his  holy 
presence  so  manifestly  abides,  we  tremble  at  the  fate  of 
him  who  put  forth  his  hand  presumptuously  to  steady  the 
ark  of  old.  Our  first  and  best  conclusion,  as  we  stand  be- 
fore it,  would  seem  to  be,  to  take  it  reverently  as  it  is, 
renouncing  the  temerity  of  an  attempt  to  improve  it  by 
adding  or  deducting  any  thing.  To  extend  its  blessings  to 
all  our  spiritual  households  ;  to  make  it  more  prized  and 
cherished  everywhere ;  perhaps  to  give  a  fuller  form  and 
expression  to  the  deep-felt  unity  of  all  its  branches,  may 
be  our  legitimate  and  laudable  objects.  But  in  all  we  do 
for  these  ends — and  here  is  the  critical  point — we  cannot 
be  too  watchful  to  preserve  incorrupt  and  intact  the  primi- 
tive simplicity  of  the  institution  as  it  was  delivered  unto 
us.  "See  that  thou  make  all  things  after  the  pattern 
showed  thee  in  the  mount."  We  must  add  nothing  in  kind 
or  in  principle,  but  only  in  measure  and  extended  applica- 
tion. The  spiritual  unity  of  the  whole  brotherhood  of 
Daily  Union  Prayer-meetings,  felt  in  spontaneous  mutual 


aiti:\i>[\\  29 

congratulations  from  the  first  hour  of  t! 

still  manifested  in  the  most  delightful  correspond  i 

every  opportunity,  \b  a  fact  of  the  same  origin  with  the  in- 
stitution itself,  and  a  vital  fore.'  Inherent  in  it<  very  nature. 

It  cannot  be  prevented  from  generating  -  ipTes* 

-ion  or    organism,  more   or    :•  .    methodical,    ami 

distinct.     Ami  thu  iely  what  is  now  going  on  in 

this  pine       W<  .if  we  understand 

tach   to    this   throbbing,  sympathetic,  yet 
formless  raw  of  our  own  contriving,  i 

from  those  of  human  societies  ami  corporations;  but  simp- 
ly to  let  it  evolve,  out  of  its  own  peculiar  nature,  a  g 
form  and  method  of  its   own,  correspondent  to  that  local 
ition  already    seen,  and  as  superior,   we   ma 
-  that   is,  in   its  beautiful   simplicity  and  living  free- 
to  any  constitution  ever  framed  by  man.     The  less 
we  allow  oni  nave  to  do  with  the  procet 

perfectly  and  lly  it  will  be  performed.     The 

Union  Prayer-meeting,  as  we  find  it,  or  rather  as  it  has 
found  us,  is  the  first  example  of  union  without  entangle- 
ment, embarrassment,  constraint,  or  compromise.  It  is  a 
product  of  spiritual  and  divine  wisdom — M  the  wisdom  that 
cometh  from  above" — in  one  of  the  pnresl  for:: 
given  to  man  to  realize.  Its  further  development,  we  in- 
>old  be  allowed  and  assisted  to  shape  itself,  in  the 
same  freedom,  by  the  same  principles,  and  on  thi 
model,  as   hitherto.     We   have  assembled   here,  BO  far,  in 

h  no  head  hut  Christ, 
no  officer  or  law  hut  Love,  no  organ  save  the  nnassnming 
action  of  brethren  leading  in  the  simp.  by  com- 

mon consent, — precisely  as  ire  do  in  our  local  meet 
Why  should  we  not  continue  do  to  do:      V. 


30  APPENDIX. 

seek  here  to  learn  u\vhat  things  to  pray  for  as  we  ought," 
and  endeavor  to  stir  up  each  other's  minds  by  way  of  re- 
membrance of  those  things,  to  a  broad  and  catholic  union 
of  desire  and  supplication  for  the  cardinal  objects  of  gen- 
eral concern.  By  the  same  simple  means  we  may  unite  all 
our  knowledge  and  intelligence,  to  throw  light  upon  those 
objects,  and  make  them  luminous  to  our  eyes  and  to  the 
world.  In  short,  we  may  thus  consolidate  this  unity  of 
the  Spirit  as  closely,  and  give  it  as  energetic  expansion  and 
activity  as  may  be  done  by  the  Spirit  itself,  through  the 
free  agency  of  Love, — and  what  could  we  do  more,  by  the 
artificial  and  stringent  apparatus  of  worldly  association, 
within  whose  bonds  no  spiritual  process  can  flourish  and 
expand?  We  seek  to  foster  this  great  root-^an  every-day 
walk  with  God  and  with  each  other — and  to  take  the  same 
reverent  care  of  its  peculiar  and  legitimate  branches  of 
practical  activity.  As  the  individual  members  of  each 
prayer-meeting  acquire  a  common  consciousness,  and  real- 
ize their  common  union  with  their  Head,  so  the  spiritual 
bodies  thus  formed  tend,  by  a  necessity  of  nature,  to  ac* 
quire  a  common  consciousness  with  each  other,  and  to  give 
clearer  expression  and  stronger  development  to  their 
union  as  a  great  spiritual — not  material— body.  To  effect 
this,  and  not  some  other  thing,  we  repeat,  the  same  pro- 
cess must  still  be  continued,  and  in  nowise  varied.  The 
union  must  not  only  be  free  and  voluntary  in  its  formation, 
but  it  must  exist  in  the  same  condition  to  the  end.  As 
drops  mingle  in  streams,  spontaneously  and  harmoniously 
flowing  down  to  unite  in  the  free  and  flexile  river  that 

■ "  windeth  at  his  own  sweet  will,'* 

so  should  we  blend  and  flow  onward  in  the  channels  of 


\i  I'l  M>1\.  81 

ProTid  !y  and  loot  Jc,  we  should 

floi    together,  and  bend  our   common 
common  objects,  by   virtue  ol   inward  individual  forces 
solely.    Thus  confined  by  no  forms,  or  laws,  or  lords  of  oar 
own  making,  and,  as  we  neither  assume  nor  delegate  any 

its  authority,  so  entangled  in  no  artificial  rei 

bility  for  each  other,  we  can  sympathise  without  mutually 

endorsing;  we  can  confide  without  fcompromis- 

.    we  can  loTS  without  judging  one  another; 

•  without  contracting;  and,  if  need  be 

and  kindly  at  W6  came  in. 

Let  1       object  of  our  organisation  be  simple  concert. 

Concert  in  prayer,  with  ■  concert  in  labor  and  effort,  of 

QC  pure  spiritual  kind  which  if  to  understand 

oncer!  in  prayer.     Let  us  help  one  another,  unite 

our  whole   power  in  any  enterprise  that  engages  appropri- 
ately our  sympathies,  under  a>  lit 1 1  Deoessity,  or 

Of  responsibility  to  or   Tor   each  other,  and  with   afl  much 
free  and  spontaneous  heartiness  as  we  unite  every  day  in 
prayer.      If  brethren  arc  designated  to  do  any  leading 
work,  let  it  be,  by  no  future  possibility,  through  oSeii 
implied  In  election,  but   through  union  and  by  common 
consent,  and  let  us  follow  them  precisely  as  we  follow  one 
ted  to  lead  in  prayer  or  conduct  a  prayer-meeting, 
to  the  extent  of  our  own  hearty  sympathy  and  inward  de- 
sire.    Any  further  following,  from  a  sense  of  obligation  to 
what    are   called   constitutions  and  by-laws,   would   be  as 
spiritual  labor  as  we  all  feel  it  to  be  in  devo- 
tion.    Our   union   must  continue  simple,   that  it  may  be 
and  free  that  it  may  be  spiritual  and  pure. 


32  APPENDIX. 

II. 
REPORT   ON   CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

******  What  then  is  the  perfect  state 
of  unity  and  union,  as  predicated  of  the  Church  of 
Christ?  Is  it  not  that,  plainly,  in  which  all  things 
throughout  its  body  corporate,  whether  of  doctrine  or  dis- 
cipline, are  determined,  maintained,  and  ruled  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Divine  law  of  Love,  the  only  organic  princi- 
ple planted  within  it  by  Christ?  Is  it  not,  in  short,  that 
state,  of  which  the  true  parallel,  as  presented  by  Christ 
Himself,  is  the  Infinite  and  Eternal  Love-Union,  which,  in 
the  economy  of  the  Godhead,  binds  into  one  Father  and 
Son? — "that  they  all  may  be  one,  as  Thou  Father  art  in 
me  and  I  in  Thee?"  This  no  one  will  attempt  to  ques- 
tion. 

Was  such  an  LTnity  contemplated  in  the  Lord's  purpose 
towards  His  future  Church?  As  little  will  any  question 
this. 

Does  such  an  Unity,  or  any  thing  approaching  it,  in 
degree  at  least — shall  we  say  in  kind  also  ? — prevail  among 
the  several  branches  of  the  one  universal  Church  ?  Least 
of  all,  alas!  can  any  hesitate  iu  the  answer  which  must  be 
given  to  this  question  ?     It  does  not. 

Why  does  it  not?  What  hinders?  An  inquiry  vital  to 
our  present  purpose.  Two  hindrances  are  plainly  to  be 
discerned  : 

1.  First  and  foremost,  and  here  is  the  tap-root  of  the 
mischief, — the  prevalence  of  an  inveterate  sectarianism, 


APPENDIX.  •>•> 

:i  lamentable  lack  of  the  spirit  of  lore,  the  almost  unchal- 
lenged  dominioD  of  ■  spirit  quite   the  contradict 

this. 

;:i  each  of  the  sundered  di- 

-  of  the  one  body  of  Christ,  of  some  petty  obstacle 

either  of  an   internal  or  external  character,  which  has 

in  the  course  of  historic  development,  often  firom 

most  trivial  circumstances,  and  which,  as  common  in  such 

instances,  has  become  peculiarly  obstinate  and  prominent, 

serving  as  only  too  convenient  a  point  of  attachment,  and 

nuous  adhesion  for  the  sturdy  muscles  of  sectarian 

activity. 

Bare,  then,  lies  directly  before  us  the  task  of  this  con- 
vention in  the  present  matter,  and  the  question  Btands  : 
What  can  be  done  bjthe  Union  Prayer-meetings, here  and 
now  assembled,  to  restrain,  to  diminish,  and  to  destroy  the 

unchristian  spirit  of  sectarian  selfishness,  to  foster  the 
Christ-like  power  and  habit  of  love,  and  to  remove  SS  rap- 
idly as  possible  the  several  particular  hindrances  thereto 
existing  in  the  doctrine,  discipline,  spirit,  or  habitudes  of 
each  portion  of  the  great  Christian  body,  the  Church  uni- 
versal ? 

The  unity  we  need  and  seek,  brethren,  is  no  machine- 
made  unity,  no  organized  activity  of  bare  human  powers, 
duct  of  human  will  or  of  human  wisdom    We  want 
no  unity,  which  can  i  ver  by  any  means  become  transmuted 

into  the  Shibboleth  of  a  new  sect.     There  i-  no  human  rea- 
son why  such  a  sect   should  not  prove  the  most  bitter,  the 
of  all;   no  human  reason  why  such  an  unity 
should  prove  any  thing  more  than  a  corrupt  and  noi 
counterfeit. 

Let  us  then,  at  the  outset,  recognize  the  Spirit  of  God 


34  APPENDIX. 

Himself  as  alone  able  to  re-create  and  to  re-distribute 
through  the  whole  complex  of  Christ's  members  on  earth, 
that  life-principle  of  pure  and  unfeigned  love,  which  alone 
can  give  birth  to,  and  which,  in  exact  proportion  as  it  in- 
creases, will  give  birth  and  growth  to  the  genuine  type  of 
Christian  unity. 

Plainly,  therefore,  the  main  endeavor  of  this  Convention 
must  be  to  open  wide  the  mouth  of  the  Church,  and  draw 
forth  thence  to  heaven  a  great  and  besieging  cry  for  the 
spirit  of  love  and  unity.  Without  this  all  our  human 
effort  were  worse  than  wasted  ;  with  it,  who  dare  say  that 
one  smallest  atom  of  it  shall  ever  be  thrown  away? 

Besides  this  main  effort,  however — this  reaching  up 
after  the  Omnipotent  arm  of  God,  our  King  and  Father — 
there  is  special  effort  needed,  the  effort  of  true  hearts, 
earnest  wills,  and  strong  hands,  to  lay  hold  on  and  remove 
those  particular  hindrances  already  noticed  as  existing  in 
the  several  divisions  of  the  universal  Church,  and  which, 
when,  by  the  help  of  the  Lord  Omnipotent,  they  shall  be 
made  to  yield,  will  open  at  once  a  way,  both  wide  and 
easy,  for  the  onward  march,  the  royal  progress,  of  all-con- 
quering love,  fresh  descended  from  the  heart  of  God. 

3.  How  shall  this  convention  move  to  reach  these 
ends  ?  What  shall  be  done  ?  Several  things  are  sug- 
gested to  your  committee  as  worthy  of  notice,  of  which 
they  would  submit  the  following : 

Organize  and  maintain,  through  the  instrumentality  of 
the  Union  Prayer-meetings — blessed  foundation,  new-laid 
of  God  for  many  a  goodly  structure  of  grace — a  mighty 
and  incessant  current  of  prayer  for  the  spirit  of  love  and 
the  cause  of  Christian  union.  Let  every  such  prayer- 
meeting  through  the  land  be  brought  to  see  and  to  adopt 


AI'IMNDIX.  $5 

one  of  its  uniform,  prominent,  specially  obligatory 

and  specially  appropriate  OOJOOtS.      Impiv.--  tin-  >aim-  upon 

every  accessible  gathering  for  prayer  throughout  the  Ta- 
rtans churches;  bring  it  into  every  family-circle  of  praying 

souls ;   cause  it  to  be  whispered  in  the  closet  of 
praying  man,  woman,  ami  child;    "give  Him  no  n 

sblish.  and  till  He  make  Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the 

earth.' 

sms  also  worthy  of  inquiry,  whether  something, 

perhaps  much,  may  not  he  accomplished  by  inducing  the 
appointment,  on  the  part  of  the  various  legislative  bodies 
of  the  chinches,  of  some  of  their  wisest  and  best  men, 
clerical  and  lay,  as  delegates  to  a  free  fraternal  conference 
of  Christian  brethren,  where  each  may  become  acquainted 
with  the  position  and  views  of  the  other  in  an  atmosphere 
free  from  the  poisonous  presence  of  polemical  rancor,  and 
charged  rather  with  the  genial  element  of  love;  where  all 
may,  without  dread,  lay  open  the  innermost  convictions 
and  desires  of  their  souls;  where  the  fullest  information 
may  be  mutually  communicated  with  regard  to  the  condi- 
tion of  popular  feeling  in  the  several  branches  of  the 
Church,  and  where  the  most  unprejudiced  comparison  of 
mutual  sentiments  may  have  free  scope  to  do  all  it  can  in 
developing  new  and  hopeful  possibilities  for  the  near  fu- 
ture. Judging  from  the  imperfect  tentative  movements  in 
this  direction,  which  any  watchful  eye  might  have  detected 
during  the  pas!  year  from  various  quarters,  and  wholly 
without  collusion,  there  certainly  does  seem  ground  for 
hoping  that  a  well-directed  movement  toward  general,  in- 
formal brotherly  conference,  as  above  proposed,  carried 
out  under  the  propitious  auspices  of  this  Convention  of 
Union  Prayer-meetings,  would  shortly  surprise   all  lovers 


36  APPENDIX, 

of  unity  by  its  rapid  development  of  possibilities  now 
deemed  perhaps  altogether  beyond  reach. 

Nor  are  the  more  usual  means  of  moral  influence  to- 
ward the  great  end  in  view,  by  any  means  to  be  neglected. 
Let  the  pulpit  be  aroused;  let  the  many-tongued  press 
speak  with  incessant  utterance ;  let  all  the  now  latent  and 
dispersed  moral  energy  of  true  souls  be  called  out  into  ac- 
tivity and  brought  into  combination.  Draw  together  upon 
some  common  centre  all  the  most  loving  hearts,  that  the 
blessed  breath  from  heaven  may  kindle  them  to  an  ardent 
and  effective  welding-heat.  Act  upon  the  young,  before 
their  tender  natures  are  hard-tempered  into  the  sword- 
steel  of  sectarianism.  Spread  abroad  well-prepared  infor- 
mation as  to  the  real  substantial  unity  of  the  churches  on 
all  the  vital  doctrines  of  grace,  their  extensive  coincidence 
in  all  that  constitutes  the  needful,  that  is  Scriptural,  order 
and  organic  discipline  of  the  Christian  body.  In  short, 
put  into  action  all  such  common  moral  influences  and  in- 
strumentalities as  shall  be  suited  to  meet  and  overcome 
the  special  difficulties  of  the  case. 

Such,  then,  are  the  means,  and  such  the  movements, 
which  your  committee  are  at  present  prepared  to  submit 
for  your  consideration  and  action.  As  to  the  particular 
method,  or  organized  instrumentality,  of  which  the  Con- 
vention should  avail  itself  for  the  use  of  these  means  and 
the  carrying  out  of  these  movements,  it  is  sufficiently 
plain,  of  course,  that  the  simplest,  least  cumbrous  and  least 
formal,  will  be  the  best,  and  should  be  sought  and  used. 

In  closing,  brethren,  suffer,  briefly,  the  word  of  exhorta- 
tion. Is  it  granted,  or  it  is  not,  that  a  thorough  oneness 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  forms  its  only  true  organic  basis  ? 
Is  it  granted,  or  is  it  not,  that  this  thorough  oneness  is  the 


AI'I'KNIUX.  37 

raditioD  of  its  full  life,  power,  rictory  !    U  it  granted, 
or  ii  it  not,  thai  the  bringing 

of  tin-   Great    Bead   of   the 

Church?      Is    it    certain,  or    is    it    not,  that    this    Onei 

:  •  of  Chrial  *.y     I    ll 

true,  or  Kg  it  not,  that  there  i  through 

[  rli  ami  breadth  of  our  churches,  Qumberlesfl  souls, 

lODg  wearied  with  strifes  and  division-,  loi 
and  yearning  to  sink  them  all  in  oblivion  ?  Is  it  true, 
or  [fl  ir  not,  tliat  there  are  COUHtleSfl  Christian  hearts 
within  whieh  the  ardent  tire  of  brotherly  love  smoulders, 
readj  to  break  forth?  Is  it  true,  or  is  it  not,  that  it  needs 
but  a  gathering  of  these  brands  to  kindle  a  quick  flame, 
which  shall  catch  and  spread  through  our  land — it  may  be 
upon  lands  beyond  the  sea?  Is  it  true,  or  is  it  not,  that 
our  Lord  is  a  Lord  who  hears,  and  who  answers  prayer? 
Is  it  true,  or  is  it  not,  that  we  have,  in  these  last  days, 
special  encouragement  to  look  to  Him  in  supplication  for 
eater  things  than  our  fathers  or  we  have  known  f 
If  these  things  be  not  true,  then  may  God  help  us! 
but  if,  indeed,  they  be  true,  brethren, — and  do  not  our 
leap  together  here  to  believe  they  are — if  they  be 
true,  then,  in  the  name  of  God,  llt  v*  arise  and  go  for- 
wabd  I 

The  Resolutions  accompanying  this  Report,  as  amended 
by  the  Convention,  will  be  found  incorporated 
in  the  general  series  of  Resolutions. 


38  APPENDIX. 

in. 

OX  FIELD,  TEXT,  AXD  PUBLIC  HALL  PREACHING. 

Before  our  Saviour  ascended  to  heaven  he  said  to  his 
disciples,  "Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  both  in  Jeru- 
salem and  in  all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  ut- 
termost part  of  the  earth."  Thus  in  a  single  word  did  he 
describe  the  nature  of  his  Church.  It  was  to  be  the  de- 
pository of  his  truth ;  the  place  where  it  was  to  be  col- 
lected, and  from  which  it  was  to  be  distributed.  Thus  did 
he  also  describe  the  real  character  and  office  of  its  mem- 
bers. They  were  to  be  witnesses  unto  him  ;  they  were  to 
bear  testimony  on  his  behalf,  in  whatever  sphere  they 
might  be  placed,  in  whatever  way  he  might  happen  to 
need  that  testimony.  Is  that  Church  compared  to  salt  ? 
It  is  to  diffuse  its  savor.  Is  it  compared  to  leaven  f  It 
is  to  leaven  the  whole  lump.  Is  it  compared  to  light  ? 
It  is  expected  that  the  light  will  shine.  Of  what  use  would 
salt  be  unless  scattered  and  applied?  or  leaven,  if  it  did 
not  pervade  the  three  measures  of  meal?  or  light,  if  not 
permitted  to  show  itself  and  dissipate  the  darkness  ?  For 
the  disciples  to  restrict  this  salt,  this  leaven,  this  light  to 
their  own  personal,  individual  benefit ;  for  Peter,  and 
James,  and  John  to  say  each  one  for  himself,  "I  believe 
the  doctrines  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  I  know  him  to  be  the 
Christ.  I  am  satisfied  as  to  the  truth  of  his  miracles.  I 
am  equally  well  persuaded  as  to  the  reality  of  his  death ; 
of  his  resurrection  from  the  grave,  of  his  ascension  on 


APPENDIX.  89 

high,  and  in  this  belief  I  shall  IIys  and  die,  *nd  go  to 
heaven,  do  matter  what  becomes  of  other*;  would  be  a 
spirit  of  selfishness,  wide  as  the  polea  asunder  from  the 
spirit  of  their  master.  Their  own  personal  Balration  was 
hut  secondary  and  incidental  to  his  great  and  ultimate  de- 
sign, which  was  through  each  of  them  to  accomplish  the| 
salvation  of  many  others.     k%  Fe  shall  be  witnesses  unto 

Be  both   in  Jerusalem,  and    in    all  Judea,  and   in   Samaria, 

and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth."  uGo  yc  into 
all  tln>  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature; 
he  that  belie veth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved;  but  ho 

that  believeth  not  shall  he  damned."  *  *  "And  they 
went  forth  and  preached  every  where,  the  Lord  working 
with  them,  and  confirming   the   word   with  signs   follow- 

tog." 

Such  then  is  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  pre-eminently,  un- 
mistakably diffusive,  free  as  the  air  we  breathe,  the  water 
we  drink,  or  the  light  of  heaven.  The  glad  tidings  of  great 
joy  to  all  people,  all  people  should  have  the  benefit  of  it. 
The   moment   that   it  is  confined  to  a  favored  few,  and 

lea  to  he  aLrurre-sive,  that  moment  it  ceases  to  be  the 
gospel  in  all  its  original  power,  that  moment  it  no  longer 
goes  forth  "  conquering  and  to  conquer."  M  It  is  a  maxim  in 
the  military  art, n  said  Xapoleon,  "that  the  army  which 
remains  in  its  intrenchments  is  beaten."  It  is  a  maxim, 
the  truth  of  which  is  also  confirmed  in  all  the  past  history 
of  the  church.  Other  things  being  equal,  that  minister  of 
Christ  who  preaches  the  gospel  to  the  most  people  of  all 

»es  and  conditions,  is  mosl  like  Christ  and  his  apostles, 
and  will  have  the  brightest  crown  in  the  day  that  God  will 
make  up  his  jewels.  With  these  preliminary  remarks  let 
us  consider, 


40  APPENDIX. 

The  field  of  Union  Missions  as  to  the  persons  to  be 
benefited  by  them. 

For  some  years  past,  much  time  and  labor  have  been 
bestowed  upon  this  subject  in  the  way  of  statistics,  which 
naturally  divide  themselves  first,  as  to  the  great  cities  and 
towns;  and  second,  as  to  the  more  densely  populated  dis- 
tricts of  the  country. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  in  the  City  of  New  York  the 
number  of  persons  unreached  by  the  ordinary  means  of 
grace  is  400,000 ;  Philadelphia,  200,000 ;  Brooklyn,  137,- 
000;  New  Orleans,  100,000;  Detroit,  30,000.  In  thirteen 
of  the  principal  cities  of  the  United  States,  1,200,000. 

The  state  of  things  in  the  country,  all  portions  of  it 
taken  together,  is  very  little,  if  any,  better.  In  Maine  not 
more  than  one-third  or  one-half  of  those,  who  might  at- 
tend, are  ordinarily  found  in  any  house  of  worship.  In  New 
Hampshire  not  more  than  one-third.  In  Vermont  one- 
quarter  of  the  whole  population  are  habitual  neglectors  of 
all  public  worship — one-third  who  do  not  attend  habitual- 
ly. In  Massachusetts  250,000  persons  seldom,  if  ever, 
come  under  the  sound  of  the  Gospel.  In  Connecticut 
not  one-half  of  the  population  come  under  the  direct  in- 
fluence of  the  means  of  grace.  In  Ohio  only  about  one- 
third  of  the  people  attend  public  worship,  leaving  1,000,000 
who  do  not  attend.  In  Illinois  only  one-quarter  of  the 
Protestant  population  can  be  considered  as  regular  at- 
tendants. In  Pennsylvania,  taking  the  thirty  counties 
east  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  containing  1,200,000, 
about  400,000  are  without  any  accommodation  in  a  house 
of  worship ;  and  in  the  State  as  a  whole,  not  one-half  of 
the  population  can  be  regarded  as  church-goers. 

Four  and  a  half  millions  comprise  all,  and  more  than 


AI'TIMUX.  41 

all,  tin*  average  attendance  on  the  places  of  Protectant 
worship  on  the  Sabbath  day  in  the  whole  country.    <>r,  in 

other    words    ire    bare    lour   and    •    half  million-,    out   of 

thirty  millions,  on  the  Sabbath,  under  i  oo  Gospel 

instruction. 

When  we  think  of  tho  charaeter  of  the  remainder,  DOW 

many  of  these  are  profane  swearers,  Sabbath  breaker.-, 
drunkards,  adulterers  ;  how  many  are  in  the  Penitentiary 

in  consequence  of  crime,  or  in  the  Almshouse  if  the  con- 

sequence  Of  vice;  and  what  thai]  be  the  end  of  their  un- 
godlv  career,  our  eye  might  well  affect  our  heart  ;  and,  in 
view  of  such  a  va-t  Zahara  of  moral  desolation,  the  inquiry, 
What  can  bo  done  to  evangelize  the  masses  of  our  coun- 
try ?  is  not  second  in  importance  to  any  other.  uThe  har- 
vest truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are  few/' 

To  answer  this  Inquiry  by  a  reference  to  the  past,  wo 
think  of  the  declaration,  M  Wisdom  crieth  without ;  she  ut- 
tereth  her  voice  in  the  street ;  she  crieth  in  the  chief 
places  of  concourse,  in  the  opening  of  the  gates."  We  see 
44  Ezra  the  seribe  standing  upon  a  pulpit  of  wood,  which 
they  had  made  for  the  purpose,  and  all  the  people  gather- 
jog  them-elves  together  as  one  man  into  the  street."  We 
see  John  the  Baptist,  preaching  in  the  wilderness.  We 
see  Jesus  himself,  going  about  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their 
synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom, 
now  on  a  mountain  top,  now  on  a  mountain  side,  now  on 
the  steps  of  the  Temple,  and  again  speaking  from  a  ship  to 
a  great  multitude  that  >tood  on  the  shore.  We  see  Peter 
in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  speaking  with  a  tongue  of  fire, 
and  the  enemies  of  the  truth  falling  before  him  like  grain 
before  the  sickle.  We  see  Paul  on  Mars  Hill,  declaring  to 
the  men  of  Athens  the  true  instead  of  the  unknown  God, 
4* 


42  APPENDIX. 

"We  see  that  little  band  of  disciples,  as  they  hold  their 
farewell  prayer-meeting  in  the  upper  chamber ;  as  they 
once  more  engage  in  the  breaking  of  bread;  as  they  sol- 
emnly commend  each  other  to  the  care  of  Him  who  has 
said,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway ; "  as  they  find  them- 
selves outside  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  are  scattered 
abroad  everywhere  preaching  the  word. 

Most  of  them  have  little  education ;  they  have  learned 
to  read  and  learned  to  write — perhaps  but  little  more. 
They  never  sat  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel ;  never  stud- 
ied in  the  schools  of  eloquence ;  never  made  themselves 
familiar  with  the  literature  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
They  are  not  even  colporteurs ;  they  have  no  Bibles,  no 
Testaments,  or  tracts,  or  religious  newspapers  to  distribute  ; 
no  Gospel  by  Matthew,  or  Mark,  or  Luke,  or  John  ;  no 
epistle  by  Paul,  or  Peter,  or  James,  for  they  are  yet  to  be 
written ;  but  they  are  not  so  poorly  off  after  all.  They 
themselves  are  living  gospels ;  the  great  facts  in  the  his- 
tory of  Jesus  are  written  in  their  memories ;  the  spirit  of 
it  is  written  in  their  very  hearts.  They  are  living  epistles, 
manifestly  declared  to  be  the  epistles  of  Christ,  written  not 
with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God. 

Or,  to  give  more  definiteness  to  our  conception  of  the 
diffusive  nature  of  the  gospel,  take  the  case  of  a  single  in- 
dividual— that  young  man,  for  example.  Already  he  has 
borne  his  testimony  to  those  at  home  ;  for  to  follow 
Christ  he  has  left  them  all.  Already  he  has  borne  a  gen- 
eral testimony  as  to  his  belief  in  Christ  as  the  Messiah,  by 
receiving  baptism  in  His  name  in  the  presence  of  the  mul- 
titude. And  now,  leaving  father  and  mother,  sister  and 
brother,  he  is  driven  out  upon  the  wide  world,  forsaken  and 
alone.  But  there  is  one  thought  which  comforts  and  sustains 


\HT\DI\.  4S 

Mm:  In1  goal  not  anient  I!-'  is  on  i  mission  to  the  Ignorant 
and  tlu>  lost,  Se  does  no1  go  unaccompanied  i  M  Lo,  I  in 
whfa  you,"  Is  the  promise  ol  bis  Master,  "always,  even  unto 
tin-  end  of  the  world."  Sis  own  hearl  filled  to  overflowing 
with  the  knowledge  and  love  of  Christ ;  like  the  ointment 
of  the  right  band  thai  betrayetfa  Itself,  he  Is  not  content 
unless  he  can  communicate  the  Bame  love  and  knowledge 
to  tin1  heart-  of  others,  He  bas  good  and  great  news  to 
communicate  to  the  world.  He  knows  what  they  do  not 
know,  but  what  they  must  know  it'  ever  they  would  be 
saved;  and  how  is  he  straitened  until  it  Is  announced 

Is  lu>  on  hia  journey,  and  does  he  meet  with  a  Fellow- 
traveller,  the  usual  topics  of  conversation  soon  exhausted, 

mis  to  narrate  the  wonders  of  the  crucifixion,  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and  his  ascension  on 
high  ;  and  closes  his  description  With  the  unfaltering  atlir- 
ination  of  his  belief  that  this  was  indeed  the  Christ  who 
should  redeem,  who  Jnid  redeemed  Israel. 

I  wayfaring  man,  does  he  tarry  for  a  night  at  an 
inn?  Ere  his  companions  retire  to  rest,  they  are  sure  to 
hear  the  same  story,  and  to  he  most  earnestly  and  cor- 
dially invited  to  believe  in  Him,  for  whom  there  was  no 
room  in  the  inn  at  Bethlehem,  but  whose  Father's  house 
of  many  man-ions  is  always  open  to  receive  the  wretched 
and  the  1<>m. 

Does  he  find  himself  on  board  some  vessel,  and  0:1  a 
longer  or  a  shorter  voyage  to  a  distant  port  ?    If  he  is  the 

only  one  who  knows  of  Jesufl  Christ  ami    Him  crucified,  he 

is  determined  that    all  hi-    fellow-p  shall   know  it 

also.  Not  one,  the  least  and  lowest  of  the  crew,  but  shall 
be  made  acquainted  with  the  power  of  Ilim  who  could 
Bpeak  to  the  winds  and  the  waves,  and  cause  them  to  be 
still. 


44  APPENDIX. 

Does  he  obtain  employment  in  the  shop  or  in  the  field? 
it  is  the  same  way  with  his  fellow-workmen  as  with  his  fel- 
low-voyagers :  they  very  soon  are  made  to  know  that  he 
has  been  with  Jesus  and  learned  of  Him,  and  some  of 
them,  through  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  learn  the 
same  lesson  themselves. 

Does  he  enter  into  a  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  ? 
Greatly  is  his  pity  moved  on  behalf  of  those  who  are  his 
brethren,  his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh,  from  whose 
hearts  the  veil  has  not  been  removed,  and  who  vainly  look 
for  a  Messiah  still  to  come.  He  talks  to  them  as  Philip 
did  to  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  when  seated  beside  him  in 
the  chariot.  He  tells  them  that  the  Messiah  has  come, 
and  that  they  are  not  to  look  for  another,  but  to  believe  in 
Jesus. 

Does  he  pass  a  heathen  temple  ?  his  whole  soul  is  stirred 
within  him  at  such  debasing  superstition,  and,  fearless  of 
all  consequences,  we  hear  him  exclaim:  "Whom  ye  ig- 
norantly  worship,  him  declare  I  unto  you." 

That  we  are  not  mistaken  in  giving  such  a  representa- 
tion of  the  mode  in  which  the  primitive  Christians  propa- 
gated the  gospel,  and  in  which  it  must  still  be  propagated, 
if  it  is  to  attain  any  great  and  speedy  success,  will  be  evk 
dent,  if  we  consider  the  meaning  of  the  word  preach  as  they 
were  then  accustomed  to  use  it,  and  as  we  ought  still  to 
use  it,  in  accordance  with  their  example. 

In  the  original  Greek  there  are  three  words  translated 
"  preach." 

The  first  signifies,  to  publish  or  proclaim  authoritatively 
or  by  commission  from  another ;  and  hence  the  preacher  is 
represented  as  a  herald  or  messenger  of  important  intelli- 
gence, one  who  is  charged  with  an  embassy,  or  to  whom 


AITKNIUX.  \-> 

isted  the  dut j of  proclaiming wit  or  peace.    This 

fai  the  term  employed  in  reference  t<>  the  preaching  of  John 

ptistas  the  harbinger  of  Christ,  of  Christ  Eimsel^ 

and  that  of  EDa  apostles,     it  i-  mainlj  an  official  term : 

leant  one 

The  second  word  is  that  from  which  our  English  word 

gdise"  conic-  ;    which   liter. illy  signifies,  to  give  the 

first  information  of  any  thing  pleasant  to  ■  person  or  peo- 
ple ;  <»r,  in  other  words,  to  announce  the  good  news.  Thus 
Joaephns,  acquainting  us  that  Titus  sent  to  his  lather  the 
good  news  Of  his  taking  Tarichea,  says  he  u  evangelized 
him11 — i.  e.   told  his  old  lather  the  good  news  of  QIC  aon'fl 

ss, 

The  remaining  word  is  an  intermediate  term,  that  has 
no  particular  hearing  on  the  case  in  band. 

From  the  example  of  Christ,  of  His  apostles  and  disci- 
d  of  the  early  converts  generally,  as  well  as  from 
the  plain  and   simple   meaning   of  the  word   itself,  We   are 
.  in  a  definite  and  most  important  sense, 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  Christian  to  preach  the  gospel; 
every  Christian,    whether  male  or  female,  young   or  old, 
whether  endowed  with  much  or  little  intelligence  or  edu- 
cation ;   every  Christian,  in   every  church   the  world  over; 
it  ifl  their   imperative  and  unavoidable  duty  to  preach  the 
,   to  carry  it   with    them  as   far  as  they  go  them- 
.  to  make  it  known  to  their  fellow-men,   wi 
be    the    reception    it   may  meet,    whatever  the  trying  or 
-ant  consequences    to    themselves     Taking    it    for 
granted  that  the  gospel  is  good  news  to  them,  that  they 
Ives  know  what  it  is  to  believe  and  embrace  it;   is 
Can  there  be  any  doubt  whatever  as  to  their  duty  to 
communicate  this  k,good  news'1  to  Others?     Study  as  long 


46  APPENDIX. 

as  we  will,  examine  as  carefully  as  we  will,  we  can  come 
to  no  other  conclusion  than  this — that  we  are  to  teach 
every  man  his  neighbor,  and  every  man  his  brother,  say- 
ing, "Know  the  Lord."  We  are  to  be  ;' witnesses"  for 
God,  as  Paul  exhorts  Timothy  ;  "  Those  who  are  not 
ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the  Lord."  "  We  cannot  but 
speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard."  u  Ne- 
cessity is  laid  upon  me — yea,  woe  is  me,  if  I  preach  not 
the  gospel." 

This  as  we  have  just  seen,  was  unmistakably  the  spirit 
of  the  primitive  Christians.  So  was  it  with  Columba  and 
the  Culdees.  So  was  it  with  Peter  Waldo  and  the  upoor 
men  of  Lyons ; "  with  Wickliffe  in  Great  Britain,  Martin 
Luther  in  Germany;  with  Zinzendorf  and  the  Moravians; 
with  Whitfield  and  the  Wesleys ;  with  Lady  Huntington 
and  her  friends,  Berridge,  and  Romaine,  and  Howell ;  with 
Edwards,  and  David  Brainerd,  and  the  Tennents ;  with 
Xettleton,  and  Patterson,  and  Daniel  Baker,  and  Xorton, 
and  a  host  of  others  that  might  be  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  the  revival  of  1832 ;  with  Brownlow  Xorth,  and 
Rev.  H.  Grattan  Guinness.  Merely  to  mention  these 
names,  is  to  speak  volumes  as  to  what  can  be  done,  when 
men  are  not  afraid  to  lift  up  holy  hands  everywhere,  with- 
out wrath  and  doubting. 

The  more  we  look  at  the  success  of  such  efforts,  the 
more  surprised  are  we  that  this  mode  of  effort  has  been  so 
little  recognized  and  reduced  to  a  practical  system.  Wise 
and  good  men,  from  time  to  time,  have  endeavored  to 
practise  it,  or  lifted  up  their  voices  in  favor  of  it,  but  there 
has  not  been  equal  wisdom  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom 
they  appealed  to  respond  to  it.  Thus,  for  example,  an 
article  on  Open-air  Preaching  appeared  in  the  American 


APi'i  m»i\.  i  r 

BapCst  Maqcizinc,  published  |  382,  in  which  the 

writer,  the  Rev.  Boward  Malcolm, 

11 Public  addresses,  delivered  In  the  open  sir,  have 
been  common  in  ill  tgei  for  all  porpoeea — civil,  military, 
and  religions,  For  the  former  purpose!  they  continue 
common,  but  for  the  latter,  they  hare  become  too  rare* 

Calvin,  not  content  with  the  duties  of  his  theological  chair, 
taught  the  inhabitants  of  Geneva  every  week  in  the  open 
air,  in  a  certain  convenient  street  Wesley  went  over  all 
England,  and  Miuok  the  slumbers  of  the  whole   population 

by  field-preaching.     In  the  year  174^  he  put  this  question 

to  his  conference  I  Have  we  not  used  field-preaching  too 
sparingly  }  and  then  a  rule  was  enacted,  that  every  super- 
intendent should  preach  in  the  open  air  once  a  week. 
Whitfield  preached  abroad  both  in  England  and  America. 
The  Hoston  Common  was  one  of  his  regular  preaching 
stations. 

k  The  regular  service  of  the  sanctuary  is  necessary  and 
entirely  scriptural  so  far  as  it  goes  ;  yet  the  mode  for  which 
we  contend,  being  neither  less  scriptural  nor  less  neces- 
sary, should  not  be  neglected.  Are  not  Christians  bound 
to  use  every  honorable  and  practicable  mode  of  diffusing 
the  gospel?"  The  author,  after  dwelling  on  the  motives 
and  encouragements  to  engage  in  the  work,  proposed  the 
formation  of  an  Open-air  Preaching  Society.  lie  adds  : 
44  If  necessary,  a  tent,  awning,  or  other  slight  accommoda- 
tion could  be  provided,  capable  of  being  easily  removed 
and  placed  in  different  situations.  Those  who  officiate 
ought  to  be,  in  general,  the  well  known  ministers  of  the 
city  and  neighborhood.  Three  or  four  brethren  skilled  in 
psalmody,  must  always  be  present,  to  commence  with  sing- 
ing, during  which  time  an  audience  will  infallibly  be  gath- 


48  APPENDIX. 

ered.  We  cannot  continue  innocent  and  leave  this  great 
work  unattempted.  It  is  not  enough  that  we  say  there  is 
ample  room  in  our  meeting-houses,  in  all  of  which  pro- 
vision is  made  for  the  poor.  We  say  not  only  that 
many  poor  are  scarcely  able  to  attend  public  worship,  but 
especially  we  say  that  the  poor  form  but  a  small  class  of 
those  for  whom  we  would  institute  this  mode  of  preaching. 
We  seek  all  idlers,  all  Sabbath-breakers,  of  every  grade, 
comprising  apprentices,  journeymen,  laborers,  and  respect- 
able persons  who  prefer  the  recreation  of  a  walk  abroad 
to  the  spiritual  refreshments  of  the  house  of  God.  We  go 
on  the  presumption  that,  as  far  as  possible,  those  who  will 
not  come  to  the  sanctuary  must  be  sought  in  the  highways 
and  hedges,  and  in  the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  city.  Nor 
would  we  confine  this  mode  of  preaching  the  gospel  to 
cities.  Let  us  not  go  down  to  our  graves  so  submissive  to 
custom,  as  to  bring  upon  ourselves  the  guilt  of  souls.  Let 
us  view  each  wanderer  among  the  thousands  who  throng 
the  public  walks,  as  possessing  a  soul  more  precious  than 
all  material  things." 

How  far  such  suggestions  were  carried  out  in  our  own 
country,  we  are  not  able  to  say.  We  know  that  they  were 
responded  to  in  many  individual  instances,  and  often  with 
very  marked  effect.  But;  more  than  a  dozen  years  pre- 
viously— as  early  as  the  summer  of  1816 — there  was  one, 
who  settled  the  question  of  open-air  preaching,  by  actual 
experiment  for  all  time  to  come.  I  mean  the  Rev.  James 
Patterson  of  this  city,  who  died  November  17,  1837. 

"  When  he  first  settled  in  the  northern  part  of  Phil- 
adelphia," says  the  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  "  his  church  and  con- 
gregation were  comparatively  small.  He  preached  three 
times  on  the  Sabbath,  besides  lecturing   and  attending 


APPENDIX,  49 

prayer-meetings  during  the  week.  Now  with  this,  nay, 
with  loss  than  this,  m  the  measure  of  t h»  ir  labors  moat 
minister!  are  abundantly  satisfied.  Not  so  with  Mr.  Pat- 
tenon,  Beside  the  multitude  thai  crowded  tin*  place  of 
worship  where  he  preached,  there  was  s  masfl  of  neglected 

suburb. m  population  who  wont  nowhere  to  hoar  the  gOS- 
pel,   and   had    no   man   naturally   to   oaro    for  their  souls. 

They  desecrated  the  Sabbath  by  collecting  in  groups  round 
the  dram  shops,  and  spending  its  holy  hours  in  rioting  and 
drunkenness.  The  benevolent  spirit  of  Mr.  Patterson  was 
stirred  within  him,  when  he  contemplated  these   dense 

crowds  of  ruined  yet  immortal  beings,  moving  in  unbroken 
srion   down  the   pathway  to  hell.     This  concern  for 
them  soon   ripened  into  an  active,  laborious  compassion, 
which  led  to  a  series  of  efforts  for  their  good  that  have  no 
parallel,  as  wo  believe,  in  the  history  of  any  settled  pastor 
in  this  country.     This  remark   refers  to  his  preaching  on 
the  Sabbath  in  the  fields.     With  essentially  the  same  spirit 
that  animated  Paul,  when  he  stood  on  Mars  Hill,  and  pro- 
claimed  the  gospel   to   those  who   were  wholly  given  to 
idolatry,  Mr.  Patterson,  amidst  all  his  other  exhausting  la- 
i  ommenced  preaching  on  the  Common  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  after  the  close  of  the  second  service  in  church. 
The  crowd  which  he   drew  round  him,  and  the  temporary 
and  permanent  effects  of  these  efforts,  have  not  been  sur- 
-    -ince   the  days  of  Whitfield.     The  surviving  wit- 
of  his  exertions  in  this  department,  speak  of  him 
still  with  enthusiastic  admiration. 

In  the  commencement  of  these  labors,  he  had  a  little 

movable  platform  constructed,   which  was  placed  by  the 

side  of  a  building  that  fronted  the  Common.     In  this  he 

stood,  and  proclaimed  the  message  of  God  to  the  prornis- 

5 


50  APPENDIX. 

cuous  company.  But  the  multitude  that  flocked  to  hear 
him,  soon  became  so  great  that  he  had  to  remove  his  stand 
to  the  open  field,  where  his  audience  could  surround  him, 
and  have  an  opportunity  of  hearing  his  spirit-stirring  ap- 
peals. The  mass  of  hearers  was  as  dense  and  far  extended 
behind  him  as  before  him,  or  on  either  hand.  He  was 
completely  encircled  by  thousands,  who  stood  in  silence, 
and  often  in  tears,  wondering  at  all  the  gracious  words 
that  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth.  These  labors  which  he 
commenced  on  the  Common  in  1816,  he  continued  through 
the  five  following  summers ;  and  to  the  perfect  revolution 
accomplished  in  the  social  and  religious  condition  of  the 
people,  a  thousand  witnesses  are  still  ready  to  testify,  alike 
as  to  its  thoroughness,  and  almost  incredible  extent. 
Why  such  an  example  as  this  was  not  more  exten- 
sively followed ;  why  the  mantle  of  this  Elijah  did  not 
fall  upon  some  equally-favored  Elisha ;  why,  as  the  city 
extended  its  limits,  and  the  suburban  population  increased 
a  hundred  fold — equally  ignorant,  equally  degraded,  equal- 
ly in  need  of  the  helping  hand  of  that  holy  religion,  which 
has  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which 
is  to  come — why  other  Pattersons  did  not  stand  forth  un- 
der the  broad  canopy  of  heaven,  and  proclaim,  as  the 
angels  did,  in  the  open  air,  "  Peace  on  earth  and  good- 
will to  men,"  we  would  not  venture  to  say  in  the  narrow 
limits  of  the  present  paper.  Like  Samuel,  when  he  feared 
to  show  Eli  the  vision,  we  would  not  wish  to  hurt  the  feel- 
ings of  the  present  generation  of  ministers,  by  drawing 
any  unworthy  or  improper  comparisons  as  to  their  physi- 
cal, mental,  moral,  and  religious  stamina,  and  that  of  many 
who  have  preceded  them,  but  the  facts  in  the  case  lie  open 
to  all.     "  The  tendency  of  the  Christian  ministry  is  always 


Al'l'IAMX.  51 

to  moTe  down  from  the  high  and  arduous  place  thai  be* 
Longs  to  it  of  .1  remedial  function,  to  the  lower  rod  more 
grateful  position  of  an  efi*  of  delectation  either  intellec- 
tual or  spiritual."  To  preach  in  our  own  pnlpiti  on  the 
Sabbath,  involve*  no  danger,  does  not  require  any  special 
sacrifice;  but  to  Lr<»  out  quickly  into  the  street*  and  lane.-. 

of  the  city,  and    compel    men    to   conic    in,  that  the  Lord's 

nia\  be  filled,  this  is  •  kind  of  work  thai  will  test 

all    that    Ifl    in    a  man   to   the    utmoM.      Now,  we  preach  to 

congregations1    but  our  commission  is  to  preach  to  lw  the 

world." 

Bnt,  thank  God,  my  brethren,  if,  in  our  own  country, 
11  open-air  missions  "  have  not   been  reduced  to  as; 
they  have  been  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

"Tw<  o,  open-air  preaching  was  carried  on  in 

than  a  hundred  towns  and  villages  of  England;  in 
moerf  by  ordained  ministers,  but  in  some  by  laymen  also, 
as  in  Bristol  and  London. " 

In    Ireland,    the   Seventh    Annual    Report   on   Open-air 

Preaching,  by  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  had 

been  made  to  the  General  Assembly — full  of  interesting 

.  and  information  methodically  arranged,  by  which 

it  appeared  thai  d  iring  i  B57,  had 

given  three  hundred  and  ninety-three  open-air  sermons. 
With  what  subsequent  results,  is  now  known  to  all  the 
world.  Challenging  them  tO  gO  and  do  likew 

Bul  it  was  for  London,  mighty  London,  that  nation  of 
itself,  to  give  the  full  solution  to  this  problem.  The  Chris, 
ti.m  Instruction  Society,  with  their  paid  ministers  ;  The 
City  Mission,  with  their  paid  mi—  The  Church 

Mission,  with  their  miss  '••nomi- 

nation,  have   at   length    suggested,  and   gradually    worked 


52  APPENDIX. 

out,  what  we  believe  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  ideas  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  viz. :  Union  Missions.  Christians, 
after  a  long  period  of  religious  divisions,  first  united  to 
circulate  the  Bible.  Next  they  united  to  pray.  The 
Union  Prayer-meeting  we  do  indeed  believe  is  now  a  per- 
manent institution  of  the  Church  universal.  It  only  re- 
mains that  they  should  unite  in  preaching  the  Gospel. 
The  argument  is  already  prepared  to  our  hand.  To  elab- 
orate it  would  only  be  to  weaken  it.  If  it  is  right  for 
Christians,  as  Christians,  to  unite  and  circulate  the  Bible, 
and  God  has  blessed  this  union — if  it  is  right  for  Chris- 
tians, as  Christians,  to  unite  for  prayer,  and  God  has  so 
unmistakably  blessed  this  union — does  it  not  follow,  al- 
most as  a  matter  of  course,  that  if  Christians,  as  Chris- 
tians, will  unite  to  preach  the  Gospel,  God  will  bless  this 
union  also  ?  and  that  in  this  union,  we  shall  reap  the  fruits 
of  both  the  others  ? 

"With  the  evidence  that  is  now  before  us  on  this  sub- 
ject, we  boldly  affirm  that  Union  Missions,  either  in  the 
open-air,  in  a  tent,  or  in  a  public  hall,  as  may  be  most  con- 
venient, can  no  longer  be  considered  in  the  light  of  an 
experiment.  The  experiment  has  been  made,  and  that  on 
no  ordinary  or  limited  scale,  and  has  proved  successful 
beyond  all  peradventure. 

The  open-air  mission  for  all  London,  with  agents  of  all 
classes,  paid  and  voluntary,  of  all  Evangelical  Denomi- 
nations, and  speaking  to  all  the  people,  as  early  as  1855 
had  held  more  than  two  thousand  services,  the  circum- 
stances attending  which  were  carefully  recorded,  and  their 
meaning  extracted,  and  the  authentic  information  rendered 
available  for  future  use.  The  time  has  come,  when  Chris- 
tians in  that  city — and  why  not  Christians  everywhere  ? — 


AITKNDIX.  53 

have  begun  to  find  out,  that  for  Christians  to  refuse  to 
Dllite  their  cflbrts  Tor  the  >alvation  of  men,  bflCMW  they 
cannot  all  agree  about  Paul,  and  A  polios,  and  Cephas,  is, 
to  use  their  own  expression,  for  the  bakers  to  quit  their 
ovens  in  the  time  of  the  famine,  ami  to  wrangle  about  the 
shape  of  their  loa\  , 

Simply  by  preachers  and  people  observing  the  differ- 
ence between  a  worshipping  congregation  and  a  listening 
crowd — in  other  words,  by  getting  men  to  listen  to  the 
gospel  outside  the  churches,  in  order  that  they  may  even- 
tually worship  inside — they  have  simplified  the  work  as  it 
has  never  been  done  before. 

"  An  appointed  minister,"  they  say, 4<  is  undoubtedly  the 
best,  if  not  the  only  man,  to  lead  the  former.  But  it  is  far 
too  clear  to  need  proof,  that  a  layman  may  well  speak  to 
an  assembly  of  the  latter  kind.  In  Sunday  and  in  week- 
day schools  laymen  address  hundreds  of  persons  on  spirit- 
ual subjects,  and  there  are  few  men  now  w.ould  dare  to  say 
that  all  sorts  of  doctrines  may  be  preached  by  any  man 
under  slates,  or  tiles,  or  thatch,  but  that  truth  may  not  be 
spoken  by  all  under  the  blue  arch  of  heaven. 

"  Receding,  then,  from  the  idea  of  collecting  a  worship- 
ping congregation  in  the  streets  as  a  necessary  part  of 
our  work,  we  perceive  that  the  singing  of  hymns  may  be 
dispensed  with,  and  prayer  very  briefly  employed,  more, 
in  fact,  to  gather  the  audience  and  to  show  the  spirit  of 
the  work,  than  to  conduct  the  praise  or  the  petitions  of 
those  who  attend. 

44  Pulpits  are  altogether  abandoned  ;  even  a  chair  is  not 
required  by  the  best  preachers.  The  whole  operation  re- 
solves itself  into  this  as  the  essence ;  in  a  crowded  alley 
or  thoroughfare,  converse  with  some  idle  man,  or  careless 
5* 


54  APPENDIX. 

children,  or  gossipping  loungers,  read  the  Word,  and  be- 
gin open-air  speaking.  Don't  call  it  preaching,  and  if  asked 
by  what  authority,  say,  '  By  no  authority.' 

"  Such  efforts  should  be  systematic — time,  place,  and 
text  arranged — encouragement  and  advice  brought  im- 
mediately within  reach,  and  communion  promoted  between 
fellow-believers.  Hence  it  is  that  a  committee  is  useful, 
and  as  a  nucleus  for  others,  a  few  are  regularly  engaged 
as  preachers.     '  Go  out  quickly,'  p.  6. 

"  The  numerous  open-air  services  of  individual  clergy 
and  ministers,  it  is  not  attempted  to  record.  These  in- 
stances, and  the  good  results  from  them,  are  happily  now 
too  numerous  to  make  it  doubtful  that  every  parish  ought 
to  have  some  preaching  out  of  doors. 

"  The  number  of  clergy  and  ministers  who  preach  in 
the  open-air  steadily  increases,  and  it  is  a  notable  sign  of 
our  times  that  there  is  held  every  Sunday  an  open-air  ser- 
vice on  the  steps  of  the  Royal  Exchange,  where  a  clergy- 
man preaches  with  the  permission  of  the  incumbent,  the 
sanction  of  the  bishop,  and  the  approval  of  the  Lord- 
Mayor  of  London !  The  Lord-Mayor  himself  frequently 
attends,  and  when  it  rained,  he  admitted  the  assembly 
inside  the  iron  gates  of  the  Exchange,  to  worship  in  the 
area  within — the  centre  of  the  commerce  of  the  world !  " 

And  what  London  has  demonstrated  to  Great  Britain, 
God  in  His  providence,  we  trust,  has  permitted  Philadel- 
phia to  demonstrate  for  the  United  States.  Our  Union 
Tabernacle  in  1858,  the  history  of  which  has  been  partly 
published  in  u  Pentecost,"  and  much  more  fully  in  a  volume 
of  450  pp.,  called  "The  Union  Tabernacle,"  and  "Our 
Tent  in  1859,"  have  developed,  beyond  all  contradiction, 
the  following  particulars : 


APPENDIX.  DO 

I.  Th;it    there  is  such  a  thing   II  :i  union   Spirit    anion:: 
i'liri-t  ians. 

II.  Such  i  thing  ii  "Union  Preaching"  by  mini ife 

III.  Such  a  field  II  t  hat  of  M  Inion  \  I  i  -  -  i  c » 1 1  ^ . "  in  which 

it  has  not  only  been  demonstrated  that  Christian!  ran 

pray  and  work  together,  but  that  it  is  for  their  own  mu- 
tual benefit  and  the  advantage  of  the  oommon  came  thui 

to  do. 

44  Doling  the  first  two  months  after  the  erection  of  the 

Tahermule,  there  were  fifty-three  sermons  preached  by 
ministers  in  connection  with  eleven  different  branches  of 

the  Church  of  Christ  ;  and  the  aggregate  number  of  those 
present  was  51,000.  During  the  four  and  a  half  months 
that  the  tent  was  in  the  city,  there  were  held  in  it  three 
hundred  and  thirty-three  meetings,  viz.  :    12  inquiry  meet- 

v  children's  meetings,  117  prayer-meetings,  and  17*.) 
services  at  which  there  was  preaching.  The  Dumber 
present  during  these  various  [mated 

in  the  aggregate  at  150,000,  to  whom  the  gospel  was  pro* 
claimed  by  ministers  in  connection  with  nineteen  different 
branches  of  the  Church  of  Christ     The  whole  number  of 

sho  hoped  that  they  hi  I  OnneO- 

tion  with  the  I   the  Tabernacle  during  tbea 

months,  was  about  two  hundred,     of  the  mnltitu 
those  irho  were  convicted  there,  and  professed  their  faith 

in  various  churches  we  Can  farm  no  estimat 

The   history  of  the   Tent  during  the  last  year  DM 
equally  satisfactory,  afl  will   appear  from   the  statement  of 
the  superintendent,  Mr.  Mingins. 

In  view,  then,  of  tin-  statements  as  thus  pi 

a  further  part  of  their  report,  your  Committee  would  re- 
spectfully submit  the  following  outline,  as  iu  all  ordinary 


56  APPENDIX. 

cases,  almost  vitally  and  essentially  connected  with  the 
existence  and  prosperity  of  their  Union  Mission  : 
|       1.  That  there  be  a  Union  Prayer-meeting. 

2.  That  a  small  Union  Committee  be  agreed  upon  by 
this  meeting,  by  common  consent. 

3.  That  the  object  of  this  Committee  be  to  encourage, 
regulate,  and  improve  the  efforts  of  Christian  men  in  that 
locality,  both  ministers  and  laymen,  to  carry  the  Gospel  to 
their  fellow-creatures  assembled  out  of  doors,  or  in  tents, 
or  in  halls,  depots,  warehouses,  and  other  places  frequent- 
ed by  the  masses. 

4.  That  #iq  Committee  be  empowered  to  select  and 
carefully  enrol  as  members  of  the  Union  Mission  any  lay- 
men whose  lives  and  doctrine  are  seen  to  be  in  harmony 
with  the  Word  of  God,  and  who  are  willing  to  labor  in  this 
most  ancient,  simple,  and  Scriptural  means  of  making 
known  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  to  their  fellow-men,  where- 
ever  they  may  l>e  assembled  together,  looking  to  the 
blessing  of  God,  and  to  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience, 
as  their  only  reward. 

5.  That  this  Committee  keep  such  records,  and  hold 
such  meetings,  monthly  or  otherwise,  as  they  may  find 
best  adapted  to  promote  their  great  object. 


P.  S. — Since  writing  the  above,  we  see  by  the  Eighth 
Annual  Report,  that,  during  1858,  fifty-six  ministers  had 
held  357  open-air  services,  and  preached  the  gospel  to 
58,275  persons;  and,  by  the  Ninth  Annual  Report,  that  in 
1859,  four  hundred  and  forty  services  had  been  held,  at- 
tended by  288,880! 


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0ATLOH0    BROS. 

MAKERS 

SYRACUS 


